The United States is struggling to defend against attacks on post-war attacks on new infrastructure in Iraq and has drafted plans to secure thousands
of kilometers of telephone lines and fiber-optic cables that comprise the nation's
communications systems.
Linton Wells, deputy assistant defense secretary for Networks and Information Integration said Iraqi insurgents have been repeatedly sabotaging fiber-optic
lines. He said several hundreds of kilometers of lines have been damaged.
"There have been cuts to the long-line systems," Well told a Pentagon briefing on Friday. "And they
get fixed, and then they're up for a while, and then somebody will cut
somewhere in a similar place or another place. Security of the long lines is
not yet stabilized."
U.S. efforts to restore Iraqi telecommunications will
be accompanied by forces to protect infrastructure against sabotage, Middle East Newsline reported.
U.S. officials said a key goal of Sunni insurgents loyal to deposed President Saddam
Hussein was to destroy newly-built Iraqi infrastructure.
The plan calls for Iraqi forces to guard telecommunications
infrastructure, officials said. They said U.S. soldiers would be called only
as a last resort.
"I'm not prepared to say it's going to be U.S. troops," Wells,
said. "Ideally, you'd work with Iraqi authorities to find Iraqi security
forces of some sort to do that guarding."
Wells said that Iraq has 3,000 kilometers
of telephone lines. He said the lines have been cut in the Sunni Triangle
around Bayji and Tikrit as well as southwest of Baghdad
Officials said the United States plans to establish a nationwide
cellular phone service system to Iraq. They said another effort could be to
parallel the fiber optic line with a microwave system. The cell phone system
could be up and running by November, officials said.
